Communication terminals, such as aerial communication devices that operate at high altitudes, may transmit and receive optical signals through free space optical links. Density of the air, wind speeds, air pressure, and turbulence may cause air scintillation across optical links to fluctuate. Air scintillation may perturb one or more of the optical signals communicated between the communication terminals. For instance, air scintillation may cause a received optical power of an optical signal at a receiving one of the communication terminals to decrease from a transmission power of the optical signal at a transmitting one of the communication terminals. As a result, optical link loss may occur and data included in the optical signals may not be received by the receiving communication terminal or partially received by the receiving communication terminal. While selecting a high transmission power for the optical signals may overcome the implications when air scintillation is high, using high transmission powers for the optical signals when the air scintillation is low may cause damage to the receiving optics at the receiving communication terminals and power consumption unduly increases at the communication terminals.